The idea that food should be a universally accepted human right has been the focus of worldwide attention aimed primarily at increasing production at the national level and on reducing price fluctuations in world markets. However, the problem of individual human needs must be simultaneously addressed. The largest number of hungry people live in low-income countries, especially Asia, whose people receive less than 90 percent of their national standards for adequate per capita caloric intake. Similarly, two-thirds of the sub-Saharan African population and a substantial proportion of Latin American and Middle Eastern peoples may also be consuming less than their national caloric standard. Migration further intensifies the problem by leading people threatened by famine to join the ranks of the chronically poor and malnourished in urban areas. Lack of food is not the only cause of malnutrition, with viral diseases resulting from parasite-infested drinking water causing an additional 20,000 malnutrition-related deaths per day among children under five years of age. Policies aimed toward solving the problem include the provision of increased food security guarantees; aid to agriculture; technical assistance for food policy planning; more effective balancing of urban and rural food subsidies; and direct health and nutrition intervention that simultaneously addresses immediate needs for food, clean water, and health care as well as the need for employment. Such resource transfers, technical assistance, and targeted food distributions require genuine cooperation among developed nations. (LH)